|
Dear Friends of the Omaha
Catholic Worker,
We prayerfully ask that you consider participating in this Witness for a Nonviolent
Peace, here in Omaha.
Thanks so much,
Jerry Ebner
Invitation
to 2nd Annual CD in Omaha Wed Oct 8th –
a "Die In" at STRATCom's Space Weapons Bazaar
In recent years the number joining our protest at Offutt has been very small.
The number of those willing to do nonviolent direct actions or risk arrest has
been even smaller. This will not always be the case. In the years ahead, a truly
world-wide peace movement will necessarily come together. This inevitability
is already materializing with efforts like the global "Keep Space for Peace
Week;" i.e. the world's peace makers have started connecting the dots to
the global war making systems and commands ("powers and principalities").
This will lead to more and more making their way to Omaha, Nebraska, to protest
STRATCom and its interlocking corporate partners. In the global struggle for
a peaceful world, Omaha and the STRATCom at Offutt Air Force Base will increasingly
emerge as a central point of protest and conversion.
On October 8, 2008, we
will continue to place the markers for those who will join us in the years to
come.
What: Nonviolence Training and Planning Meeting
Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Time: 7p.m.
Place: Holy Family Church 1715 Izard Street, Omaha, NE 68102 Social Hall,
Lower Street Level door on 18th Street.
What: "Die-In" CD/Nonviolent direct action in Omaha
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008
Time: 11 a.m.
Place: Omaha Qwest Convention Center, where the Strategic Space and Defense
Conference 2008
(otherwise known as the "Omaha Space Weapons Bazaar") is located.
Organizers and sponsors for the "Die in:" The Des Moines and Omaha
Catholic Workers
For more info contact:
Jerry Ebner,
Omaha Catholic Worker
cwomaha@gmail.com
1104 N. 24th St, Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 502-5887
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Frank Cordaro,
Berrigan Catholic Worker House
frank.cordaro@gmail.com
713 Indiana Ave, Des Moines, IA 50314
(515) 282-4781
www.DesMoinesCatholicWorker.org
Dear Friends,
Each year the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space sponsors
a "Keep Space for Peace Week" in October. Local peace communities
from throughout the world that have ongoing campaigns against space-war-related
industries and military facilities participate in this week of protest. Check
out http://www.space4peace.org/
For the third year in
a row the Des Moines and Omaha Catholic Workers and the Nebraskans for Peace
(http://www.nebraskansforpeace.org)
are participating in the Global Keep Space for Peace Week by focusing our protest
on the yearly Strategic Space and Defense Conference held at the Qwest Center
in Omaha. This conference is hosted by the corporate suppliers of weapons and
space technologies for the STRATCom and Military Space Commands at Offutt AFB
(http://www.stratspace.org)
- a sort of "Space Weapons Bazaar."
Among the events planned is a direct action nonviolent civil disobedience witness
on Wednesday, October 8, 2008, at 11 a.m. at the main entrance of the Qwest
Center. The form of this witness will be a "Die in." Anyone considering
joining us for this "Die-in" must attend the nonviolence training
and planning session at Holy Family Church on Tuesday evening October 7th starting
at 7 p.m. . If you are even thinking about participating in the "die- in",
please contact Jerry Ebner or Frank Cordaro as soon as possible.
About the Witness:
The "Die-in" witness we are planning will be a very low-key effort,
similar to the "Die-in" that took place last year. We would anticipate
similar legal consequences as were realized last year.
Sentences for this action,
assuming a defendant is found guilty, will vary and are usually influenced by
how defendants present themselves in court and any previous arrest records.
The maximum penalty from a misdemeanor similar to the one faced last year is
6 months in jail and $500 fine plus court costs.
Last year, ten people gathered
outside the main entrance of the Qwest Center, held banners, and made a brief
statement. Then four members of that group proceeded forward and lay down on
the cement enacting the "Die-in." The Qwest Center security people
and the Omaha Police greeted the protesters, informed them that they had to
leave the property or be arrested. All but three people left the property. The
three who remained and were arrested are Omaha-based protesters; Fr. Jack McCaslin,
Peg Gallagher and Omaha Catholic Worker Jerry Ebner.
Eventually all three were
found guilty of refusing to obey a policeman's order and fined. Jerry Ebner
and Fr. Jack Mc Caslin were given fines and court costs totaling: $175 Jerry
Ebner chose to do two days in jail in lieu of the fine and court costs. He entered
jail at Douglas County Jail and was released in 24 hours. Peg Gallagher received
probation with the help of a lawyer.
Why doing this witness
is important:
The Strategic Space and
Defense Conferences in Omaha is a new event borne by the newly, more god-awful
STRATCom and Space Commands stationed at Offutt AFB. This is the third year
it has been held in Omaha. For want of a better description, they are like the
old Arms Bazaars we used to protest—except that these weapons-for-profit-makers
are also marketing outer space high-technological weaponry and selling them
to the folks at Offutt.
Nebraskans for Peace and the Des Moines and Omaha Catholic Workers intend to
have a yearly presence at these events to expose and protest not only the insanity
of the STRATCom and Space Commands at Offutt but also to expose the private
corporations they feed. The fact that the Strategic Space and Defense Conferences
in Omaha coincide with "Keep Space for Peace Week," sponsored by the
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, makes for an even
more illuminating weekend.
As many know, Catholic Workers have been protesting at Offutt AFB for many years.
We have witnessed the Offutt military command's mission morph toward ever-bigger
and more deadly missions. Today Offutt AFB and STRATCom conglomerate make this
place arguably the most dangerous on the planet. http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/StratComCartoonBook.pdf
Again, for the second year in a row, Catholic Workers want to sustain a direct
action/civil disobedience component to these yearly protests.
Wednesday, October 8, has been left open for our arrest-risking "Die-in."
Please search your soul
and consider joining us this year. We need not only those who are willing to
risk arrest with the "Die-in" but also those willing to support those
risking arrest.
We look forward to hearing
from many of you.
Jerry Ebner,
Omaha Catholic Worker
|
